<a href=www.voanews.com>VOA News 01 May 2003, 18:56 UTC

Police have clashed with rock-throwing May Day protesters in Germany, while reports say a holiday rally in Venezuela turned deadly. German authorities say they arrested nearly 100 rioters during scuffles at the site of the former Berlin Wall. Twenty-nine police officers and a number of demonstrators were injured.

In Venezuela, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Caracas for separate pro and anti-government marches. Local media reports gunfire disrupted the anti-government rally, leaving one person dead. Other May Day demonstrations throughout the world were largely peaceful as hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in cities including Moscow, Seoul and Tokyo.

Demonstrators in Ukraine rallied against the government, while protesters in Kyrgyzstan called for the removal of U.S. troops from an airbase near Bishkek.

About 7,000 people in Zurich protested the war in Iraq, while British police were deployed to guard against violence in Thursday's demonstrations.

Cubans packed Havana's Revolution Plaza for a rally with President Fidel Castro and Greek and Turkish Cypriots gathered in Nicosia for their first joint May Day celebration in decades. Chinese officials, however, shortened the usual week-long festivities over fears of the deadly SARS virus.

<a href=www.outlookindia.com>OutlookIndia.com WASHINGTON, APR 25 (PTI)

US career diplomat Jeffrey Davidow is likely to be the next Ambassador to India in place of Robert Blackwill, who recently resigned to pursue academics at the Harvard University, according to sources.

Currently the US ambasaddor to Mexico, Davidow is one of only three American diplomats to hold the State Department's highest personal rank, Career Ambassador.

Ambassador Davidow studied at the University of Massachusetts (BA, 1965), the University of Minnesota (MA, 1967), and at Osmania University in Hyderabad.

While in the Foreign Service, he spent one year as a Fellow of the American Political Science Association working a s a Congresional staff aide (1979) and another year as a Fellow of the Centre for International Affairs at Harvard University (1982).

He was appointed Ambassador to Mexico in 1998 as been serving in that capacity since. He has previously served as Ambassador to Zambia and Venezuela, and was Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs in 1996.

He has spent much of his 29-year career focusing on Latin America. In addition to his Ambassadorial positions, he has served in U.S. Embassies in Gu temala, Chile and Venezuela He was also posted to South Africa and Zimbabwe.

A Jewish-American, Davidow is married to Joan Labuzoski and the couple have two daughters.

<a href=www.thescotsman.co.uk>The Scottman, Fri 25 Apr 2003 SUSAN BELL IN PARIS

TWO British men have been arrested in Paris on suspicion of running a multi-million-dollar call girl ring that allegedly supplied prostitutes to princes, film stars and captains of industry.

David Mathew Barrett, 33, and Ramsay Attallah, 38, are being questioned by French police following a two-year undercover investigation by the Paris vice squad, which led to their arrest on 21 March.

The pair are accused of supplying prostitutes to the jet set, allegedly charging their rich and often famous clients 1,000 (£670) an hour. They are also being investigated over allegations of supplying prostitutes to a member of the Saudi Royal family who allegedly paid nearly 2 million for three months of loyal service.

If convicted of "aggravated procuring", Barrett and Attallah could face up to 20 years in prison.

Ten others have been arrested in connection with the case, including a French chauffeur, two escort boys, two Brazilian transvestites and five alleged call girls, including a former Miss South America and four Brazilians.

Police confirmed to The Scotsman that the two Britons had been arrested and were being questioned in relation to the allegations.

Shortly before their arrest, an exotic troupe had returned from two months in Dubai, allegedly as guests of a member of the Saudi Royal family.

According to the popular weekly news magazine VSD, the Saudi prince, who has not been named, paid 1.9 million for three months of attention. Some 40 members of the call girl ring from Poland, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, the United States, Venezuela and Brazil allegedly travelled to Dubai at the end of January and were installed in a royal palace.

The group included several models as well as male prostitutes and transvestites. Members of the ring were paid 27,600 each, the magazine said, as well as receiving presents including watches and jewellery from the Saudi royal.

The group returned to Paris via Beirut the day hostilities broke out in the region, some of them travelling first class, VSD reported. Upon their return to Paris, the group took up residence in an elegant block opposite the flat where Barrett and Attallah lived.

The prostitutes said they were under constant surveillance and were forbidden from making telephone calls.

The two men were arrested at the luxury flat they shared on the wealthy Avenue Marceau in the well-to-do eighth arrondissement.

Among the items seized from the flat were lists of names of men and women complete with medical reports certifying the absence of sexually transmitted diseases, several thousand euros in cash, mobile phones, CD-ROMS, airline tickets, photocopies of passports and a lap-top computer.

Investigators say it is too early to put a figure on the fortune amassed, but say they have already found nearly 350,000 in cash stashed in hotel and bank safes.

Lawyers for the two men say their clients are innocent. Barrett reportedly told investigators he had only introduced people and had forced nobody to have sex.

Alain Fraitag, lawyer for Attallah, said his client was simply "a friend" of Mr Barrett and had played no part in the affair.

Press Information Bureau-India

The 3-day International Conference on Aluminium (INCAL'03) began here today with 700 delegates from India and abroad representing primary and secondary producers, researchers, academicians and end users. Sponsored by the Ministry of Mines the conference has been organised by the Aluminium Association of India (AAI). The Conference, fourth in the series was inaugurated by the Union Minister for Mines, Shri Ramesh Bais. The main theme of the conference is "Aluminium - the metal of sustainable growth."

In his inaugural speech, the Minister outlined the unique properties and diversified use of aluminium and stressed on increasing the per capita consumption in the country. It is as low as half a kilogram in India as against 2.9 kg. in China, 3 kg. in Brazil, 4 kg. in Thailand and Malaysia and 6.4 kg. in Venezuela. He said that aluminium, after its use, can be recycled repeatedly with less consumption of power. It is used in household utensils as well as heavy automobiles and powerful aircrafts.

The Minister said that this is a promising sector as India's position in bauxite reserves is fifth in the world and it has enough non-coking coal for power generation. Its skilled manpower can be best utilized to raise the production of aluminium in the country which is below one million tonnes compared to 4 to 4.5 million tonnes in China. He said that total production of aluminium in the world is nearly 25 million tonnes. The Minister assured all help and cooperation of the Government to the Aluminium Association of India and its members in their endeavour to boost the aluminium production in India. He hoped that the conference would open up new avenues for growth of the industry in India.

Dr.A.K.Kundra, Secretary Mines said that INCAL'03 would focus on

the sustainable growth in the context of aluminium being the metal of the future. It is a forum for Indian aluminium experts to exchange their views and learn regarding the global technology developments. The President of the Association, the Chairman, NALCO Shri C.Venkataramana said that spread over three days, the conference will have 45 theme lectures and 40 contributed papers on diverse topics. Nearly 30 papers are from the experts of foreign countries. Nearly 70 overseas delegates are participating in the conference. The conference will deliberate on several aspects of primary production, downstream processes and fabrications, recycling, life cycle analysis, products, applications and end-users, health, environment and ecology, marketing and finance.

In the exposition arranged at the conference the aluminium companies have displayed their facilities, focussing on every segment of the process, product and applications chain. It is an ideal market place for equipment suppliers and technology providers.

Dr.S.K.Tamotia, CEO Indal, Mr.Gerard Frochot, Sr. Vice President, Aluninium Pechiney, Shri A.K.Agarwal, Director, Hindalco Industries, Shri Shashi K.Moudgal, Chairman INCAL-2003; Prof. K.S.S.Murthy, Hony. General Secretary, AAI and senior officials of the Ministry of Mines and the industry attended the function.

<a href=www.russiajournal.com>The Russia Journal April 16, 2003 Posted: 18:39 Moscow time (14:39 GMT)  | 18-Apr-2003  | Time to get down to work | 14-Apr-2003

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that the United Nations should play a key role in resolving regional conflicts, economic crises and the problems of international terrorism and extremism.

"The international situation brings to the fore the tasks of ensuring the primacy of international law and the unique role of international security institutions, first and foremost the United Nations," Putin said at a Kremlin ceremony where he accepted credentials from ambassadors from Israel, Venezuela, Guatemala, Cuba, Eritrea, Madagascar and Sri Lanka.

"I am convinced that these difficult challenges can be overcome only through the solidarity of the international community," he said. Putin has strongly opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq, saying diplomacy and continued U.N. weapons inspections were preferable. Since the war began, he has joined France and Germany in pushing for the U.N. to play a central role in Iraq's postwar reconstruction.

During his comments Wednesday, Putin said Russia and Israel should increase their efforts to forge a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

"Today, more than ever, we must coordinate our efforts with the international community to begin moving toward a lasting, real peace in the Middle East," Putin said.

Russia is an official co-sponsor of the Middle East peace process, but its diplomatic role has been largely overshadowed by that of the United States.

The Associated Press